Management Practice Insights

Article

Management Practice Insights

Year: 2026, Volume: 4, Issue: 2, Pages: 162-168

Original Article

Towards Sustainable Platform Ecosystems: Reinforcing The Two Pillars Of Trust

Received Date:29 April 2026, Accepted Date:23 September 2026, Published Date:15 October 2026

Abstract

Today, digital platforms have become the foundation of a digital economy. App stores, e-commerce marketplaces, ride-hailing networks, and food delivery apps, among others, bring together millions of complementors (e.g., sellers, developers, and logistics agents) and billions of users by mediating digital interactions within a multi-sided platform ecosystem. Of foundational importance to such ecosystems is the trust between the platform participants and platform owner. Any breaches of trust can not only cause disengagement among sellers and buyers but also multiply quickly within a digital ecosystem. To address this issue, by Research  Annabelle Gawer and Martín Harracá investigates how inconsistent platform governance can trigger diverse practices among sellers and sometimes breach trust among platform participants.1 Conversely, platforms that invest in transparent governance, fair value sharing with complementors, and participatory rule setting tend to sustain higher levels of engagement, attract higher-quality sellers, and face fewer regulatory interventions. This essay unpacks how inconsistent governance breeds misconduct and offers a concrete set of actions for platform owners to establish stronger governance and more sustainable growth

References

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Copyright

© 2026 Published by SPJIMR. This is an open-access article under the CC BY license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) 

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